choice; but it is equally true that men can
produce better things in their own than in other
trades. The nearer a man's productions illustrate
the art in which he is most skilled, the
higher in excellence they are likely to be. It
may be odd, curious, or pleasant to see John
doing that which Thomas can do better, and John
is himself certainly proud of the achievement;
but if Industrial Exhibitions are to have any
permanent value, it will be better, on the
whole, that both John and Thomas should each
stick to his last, whatever that may be. The
brush maker who sent some shaving-brushes
and three drawings very likely felt more pleasure
in the latter than in the former, and his
friends looked with much interest at the specimens
of his artistic ambition; but his shaving-
brushes were, of course, better than his drawings.
Therefore, without discouraging what
may be called ingenious relaxation, we still say
to workmen exhibitors—think of the shaving-
brushes; although you need not altogether
neglect the fine arts.

Another suggestion refers to historical series
to illustrate particular trades. At the recent
display in the Agricultural Hall, a plumber sent in
what was described simply as "specimens
illustrating the development of the craft, from the
fourteenth century to the present time." This
conveys exactly our meaning. Of course plumbing
in the middle ages would refer chiefly to
leaden window lights for churches and cathedrals,
leaden roofs and gutters for similar buildings,
and perhaps a few leaden vessels which
would now be made of some other metal;
leaden pipes were but little used for the
conveyance of water in those days. This idea
is susceptible of development in many
interesting ways. Specimens illustrating the
operations and products of particular trades at
successive periods, would possess a real
historical interest; because they would in some
instances show what kind of materials were in
familiar use at particular times, in others how
the shape and colour had been modified by
changes in fashion, in others how far technical
ingenuity had gone, and in others how far
the people had been able to afford this or
that long ago. Say boots and shoes. Mr.
Planché and Mr. Fairholt have told us, by
woodcuts and descriptions, what kind of boots
and shoes were worn in England in past ages;
but it would be much more interesting to see
the things themselves. Would this be
practicable? We do not know; it is one of those
things which cannot be determined until tried.
Articles really made many ages ago are becoming
very valuable, for collectors bid high for them;
but there might be obtainable specimens here
and there. Hats—from the peaked and the cavalier
down to the broad brim and the narrow brim
—how curiously would a working hatter look at
such a series, and how much it would interest
persons who were only hat wearers! A
chronologically arranged set of old locks and keys to
contrast with the polished products of Chubb
and Bramah; the buttons that buttoned up our
forefathers before the days of Florentine and
pressed horn; the buckles that came in no one
knows how long ago, and nearly went out with
George the Third; umbrellas, pattens, tinderboxes,
andirons and fire-dogs, knives and forks,
pins and needles—there is no end of familiar
articles which, if treated as a series, would
illustrate some one department of trade or
other. Or it might be the tools used by a
particular class of artificers, showing how much
more perfect they now are than in bygone days.
It would be almost too much to expect that
elaborate machines would be exhibited side by
side with the rough hand-worked tools which
they were designed to supersede. But though
unlikely, it would not be impossible. If
manufacturers would lend specimens of good machines
expressly for this purpose of comparison, and
not merely to display their own skill as
manufacturers (and we believe there are many of
them quite liberal enough for this, if a well-
digested plan were submitted to them), a capital
beginning would be made; for workmen could
supply abundance of hand-worked tools of our
present day, and collections of old tools might
be picked up here and there. Or, as another
manifestation of this comparative view, the
historical series might exhibit the materials
mainly employed at particular times, rather than
the finished articles themselves, or the tools
employed in the manufacture. There was a time
when cotton was almost unknown amongst us,
wool being the king of fibres; there was a time
when velvet was too costly for any but the
wealthy, as there were no velvet weavers in
England; there was a time when " nothing like
leather" had a real manufacturing significance,
before india-rubber and gutta percha were known
to us; there was a time when paper contained
neither cotton, straw, nor Spanish grass; there
was a time before the days of shoddy, of jute,
of Bessemer steel, of hot blast, iron, of electro-
silver, of aluminium, of photolithography, of
guano colours, of coal-tar colours, of papier-
mâché, of carton-pierre. If those times could
be compared with each other, and with the
present, by a series of specimens in any particular
trade illustrating the materials worked upon, the
tools and apparatus for working, and the finished
articles themselves, we believe that no place
would be better fitted for them than a Working
Men's Industrial Exhibition.

A third suggestion:—manufacturing
processes displayed in actual working. This is
a never-failing source of interest to visitors.
We all remember how constant was
the throng of lookers-on at the International
Exhibition of 'sixty-two, busily following the
dexterous manipulations of the velvet weaver,
the tobacco-pipe maker, the lead-pencil maker,
the chromolithographic printer, the machine
seamstresses, the medal stampers, and other
handicraftsmen (and women). There is
something decisive and convincing about seeing a
thing done before our very eyes; it is better
than any book, to matter-of-fact people; it
conveys an idea more clear than any diagram or